Hypericum perforatum phenolic compounds : protective role in the toxicity induced by heterologous expression of α-synuclein and huntingtin in yeast cells
Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Parkinson’s (PD) and Huntington’s (HD) diseases are neurodegenerative disorders with high prevalence. Several studies implicate abnormal protein accumulation, protein phosphorylation, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress as common pathways implicated in PD and HD pathogenesis. Polyphenolic compounds are commonly found in both edible and medicinal plants, and they have been reported to have multiple biological effects, including antioxidant activity. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used as a model to study the toxicity and the biological functions of α-synuclein in PD and huntingtin in HD. The heterologous expression of wildtype and A53T mutant form of α-synuclein and huntingtin 103Q mutant form in yeast model to PD and HD, respectively, causes toxicity and death of yeast cells. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the possible protective effect of Hypericum perforatum phenolic compounds (quercetin, kaempferol and biapigenin) in the toxicity induced by the heterologous expression of α-synuclein and huntingtin, in S. cerevisiae. Preliminary results indicate that the presence of these phenolic compounds decreased the α-synuclein toxicity. Our results showed a possible synergistic effect between the phenolic compounds, and biapigenin was the compound with higher protective effects in the α-synuclein-induced toxicity. Mixtures of these compounds inhibited the foci formation, and kaempferol increased the aggresome formation. Relatively to the expression of huntingtin 103Q mutant form, our results showed that the presence of phenolic compounds did not interfere in the huntingtin-induced toxicity. We concluded that these phenolic compounds apparently show beneficial biological properties that consequently could have a potential use in preventing Parkinson’s disease.
Author: Pedro Miguel de Sousa Vieira
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2246236133